Jemima Gray, 26, is a former St Hugh's pupil who left Carswell House in 2011, and whose story is one of a inspiring entrepreneur and successful business woman. She shares her story with us here:

'I founded Cotswold Fox in 2021 when I was studying MSc Business at the Royal Agricultural University. Once I graduated, I started a job in Cheltenham at the law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, whilst growing my business on the side to make ends meet. In the summer of 2023 Cotswold Fox had reached the point where I could go into the business full-time and now have a close-knit team of staff who I work with every day. 

Cotswold Fox began from a university assignment where I was asked to put together a business plan for a start-up. I really enjoyed the challenge and thought 'this is something I could do properly'. From that point on, it was a huge amount of googling of ‘how to start a clothing brand’, finding a supplier, putting together our first website and designing a logo. I had an idea of the type of products I wanted to create from my equestrian and eventing background, and simply started out by sending my sketched ideas off to different factories.  

The business has quickly grown from that point to being stocked in 15 UK stores, exhibiting at major events such as the Cheltenham Races, Badminton Horse Trials and The Game Fair and now has a high-traffic website. We also opened up our first shop in Cheltenham at the end of May 2024. 

Looking ahead, I've got so many plans and aspirations for the business. We've just come back from our first photoshoot on location abroad which has been a goal of mine since the beginning, we're exhibiting at Burghley Horse Trials and the London International Horse Show for the first time this year and I’m incredidbly proud of and excited for our Winter ’24 collection. 

I had no previous experience or knowledge in fashion, and at St Hugh's my favourite subject was Games! I then went onto study Sport and Exercise Science for my undergraduate degree, before pivoting to do a masters in Business Management which really got the ball rolling. I had a ‘full circle’ moment recently as we’ve just released our Children’s Collection and we were kindly allowed to do the photoshoot in the grounds at St Hughs!'